Initiating a session to your login node

We will want to create a session configuration for your login node. You only need to create the session configuration once per node, afterwards, you will just use the existing session profile to connect and establish the tunnel. The example uses PuTTy, instructions for using SecureShell are available in an appendix.

• First, set up a standard session to vrdcXXXX. Double-click the PuTTY icon (Figure 1), and you will get the PuTTY configuration screen. (Figure 2)

  Figure 1: The PuTTY icon

  

  Figure 2: The Configuration Dialog, PuTTY

  

• Fill in the information:
  • Host Name: e.g. ``vrdcXXXX.vrdc.cornell.edu''
  • Port: 22 (as is)
  • Saved Sessions: ``vrdcXXXX'' (your choice of name, whatever you want to call it)
  Click on Save to save this profile, then Open to open a session (we will come back to this window later).

• If this is the first time you connect to vrdcXXXX.vrdc.cornell.edu, then you will receive a PuTTY Security Alert, asking you whether you want to trust this server (Figure 3) This is fine the first time around, but if this occurs in later connection attempts, then it means either that changes have occurred on the server, or that you are not connecting to the server you thought you were connecting to (a so-called ``man-in-the-middle'' attack). The host key fingerprint should be one of the following two (November 13, 2007):

  vrdc6401:   8f:c4:59:bf:7b:f2:11:99:4c:a1:c7:6e:6d:4f:07:4f (dsa) 
  vrdc6401:   e3:fb:d2:47:5f:5a:2d:6d:1b:c8:91:45:09:3a:e8:23 (rsa)
  vrdc6402:   8e:53:5a:6a:42:ff:3d:a4:9a:d9:d8:b0:10:e5:43:92 (dsa)
  vrdc6402:   95:e3:49:ff:3d:3b:d7:43:23:9c:60:7e:93:4b:91:9c (rsa)
  vrdc6403:   a3:3f:ad:8a:61:b9:ed:3d:dd:91:69:7b:57:e5:76:ef (dsa)
  vrdc6403:   20:4c:b8:e5:50:a7:41:5e:c9:63:d7:0b:99:a2:99:2f (rsa)
  
  vrdc3201:   4d:b8:ff:bd:31:54:74:8e:9e:c7:6b:e3:29:94:7b:81 (dsa)
  vrdc3201:   36:e8:d3:aa:21:77:19:66:bf:cd:62:39:e5:f4:5c:48 (rsa)
  vrdc3203:   e8:28:5d:07:ab:14:a7:e4:25:c5:4f:7d:ed:b0:92:c0 (dsa)
  vrdc3203:   84:d3:6e:9b:6e:a7:20:3b:b2:d6:1b:d6:be:2b:62:61 (rsa)
  

  Figure 3: Verifying the identity of the server

  

• Log in:
  • login as: (type your assigned VirtualRDC login name here)
  • Password: (type your password)
  You will then see the initial login screen (Figure 4)

  Figure 4: PuTTY Login screen